Tag: business owners

You already know the failure of the $700 billion bailout bill triggered a 777 point drop on the DOW. CNN reports that the markets lost $1.3 trillion dollars of value in one day. I didn’t double check their math. Let’s just say it was a big decline.

There will be plenty of advice on this situation. Unnamed top consultants cited in Forbes today already advised: “cut costs and grab the low hanging fruit”. Thank you for that clear direction. There will be a lot more of similarly “valuable” advice in the coming weeks and months.

This is not a “what happened ” report or “who should take the blame” report. This is simply a Wake Up Call To Say – Stop Living A Life of Illusions! Accept responsibility for your business. Do the following today. In fact, implement these right now:

Take focused action to grow profits and sales every day. Do not blame outside factors. Every business works in the same marketplace. Define the five “A” areas of your business that drive profitable sales and spend 80% of your time on those. That is four out of five days.

Treat your support network with respect and help them grow faster than your business since your business will follow the growth of your skills. Your support network should be selected based on your personal weaknesses not your strengths. Don’t go for clones.

Optimize all your assets including, people, receivables, inventory, fixed assets. Each one of these assets replace cash. You need cash to grow.

Evaluate, decide then act. You don’t need a two year study to enter a new market or even a new country. You can test it beginning now. This is the “bias for action mindset”.

Treat all the same as you would like to be treated. When someone does not treat you well ask yourself what you are doing to attract that behavior. Yes that is exactly what I meant to write.

Each of these areas takes work to implement. If you need help, Email Me (Steve Pohlit) or call me at 727-587-7871

Consider This:

Some members of Congress stood ground and said “it is not the government’s job” or ” I am in favor of a solution, but this plan is not good for America.” I don’t know their personal situation, but most likely some of them have personal money in mutual funds and stocks that got clobbered today by their vote. How would you vote if you know your net worth would tank by your no vote? Would you be able to vote your belief. Actually I respect all who voted their belief system regardless of the vote.

Politically there are big issues on the agenda and people are lining up for what the government should do on a number of social issues. The bigger question is whether the government should be involved in any of these social issues in the first place. It seems to me our country was founded on the principle of independence – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I don’t recall anything that says that if we pursue happiness and experience unhappiness, the government should bail us out.

If you don’t remember Enron, Google it. Out of Enron came Sarbanes-Oxley. That was the legislation designed to prevent another Enron. I can show you Power Point slide where I pointed out that this was useless legislation. There already were laws for corporate governance in place. I was one of the few in the accounting and legal professions arguing against it. It passed and the cost has exceeded the bailout that failed today. That cost was paid for by consumers where the price of products and services had to absorb the cost of implementing Sarbanes-Oxley. History teaches us a lot if we pay attention. When I work with business consulting clients I help them implement what I know to work from experience as adapted for the the individual differences of the client. It works when the client pays attention and acts as guided.

Sarbanes-Oxley was designed to prevent a bailout from even having to be considered. It didn’t and government legislation will never prevent transactions with little or no economic substance. But we continue to live in an illusion that government can solve all of these issues. It can’t and nor should it, because that is not the intention for our government. ” We The People” are responsible.